Monday Movie Meme: The Sisterhood of Award Recipients

The theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme is based on the kindness of my Road Trip partner, Tina Downey at Life is Good. Thanks to Tina, I received the “Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.” It is given to 10-12 lovely lady friends of previous award recipients but I will pass the badge onto eight of the coolest blogger chicks I know because...well...I need to keep it as short and sweet as possible, ok?!

So, let's get down to business with the Monday Movie Meme theme: Badges of Honor.

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring people who receive awards in one or more scenes. The awards can be in any form (statue, certificate, medal, sash, crown, etc.) and can -- but do not have to necessarily -- result from competitions or contests.

Here are my selections for this week’s Badges of Honor theme, followed by the ladies to whom I’m passing the “Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.”

The Fighter

 Different guys win prize money, titles, Championship belts and/or a combination of the three in this boxing movie about two brothers torn apart by greed, family quarrels and bad reputations. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams.

Courage Under Fire

Army Lieutenant Serling (played by Denzel Washington) who fought in the Gulf War receives a Silver Star upon his return. He later heads an investigation that intends to qualify Army Captain Walden as the first woman in history to win a Medal of Honor for valor in combat. Two awards, one movie. Checkmate!

Troop Beverly Hills

A ritzy housewife leads her daughter’s Wilderness Girl scouting troop in a race to become recognized by their regional council -- that’s if a nearby competing troop doesn’t interfere with their progress. There is a trophy at the end and I won’t tell you who wins it, for it would spoil the plot of this movie. So, go on and watch it already....it’s cookie time!

Now, here are my eight “Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award” recipients:

So much can be said about Angela Brown at Pursuit of Publishness that I know I’m not alone in the army of appreciation for her strides in the blogging world. When Angela is not publishing her own YA novellas and working on future stories, she uses any remaining free time to support the work of other authors while also raising the profile of blog posts, giveaways and other online happenings that might otherwise fall under the radar.

Sydney Aaliyah who shares Happiness, Passion, Love & Faith to those who care to welcome a healthy dose of her musings. She quotes the movies like a true cinemaniac while also letting you know that the stories behind tattoos, and the people who rock them, are often much different -- sometimes even more surprising, than we think.

I always look forward to getting my glimpses of overseas travel, life ponderings and positive vibes from Erika at Chimerikal. She has a lot of offer the world and is very supportive of those in her circle. Erika is honestly the one of the (few), if not the most, best things that came of the Blog Everyday in May Challenge and for that, I am grateful to have found a new blogging buddy.

Alana Garrigues at Writercize has good things cooking up in her box of writing tricks. She teaches us how to play with words in a way that’s fun and useful for build our mental strength and creativity.

In addition to being my fellow LAMB, Shala Thomas at Life Between Films spreads her love of indie cinema through film festival reviews, roundups, recommendations and artist spotlights.

Kristen Dyrr at Random Musings from the KristenHead is among those who make sure my blogging efforts aren’t done in vain. She re-started blogging with a bang after Posterous closed down and if I don’t say so myself, this fellow caretaker of felines (aside from having the A-to-Z and Blog Blitz in common, we’re both cat mommies) has done a great job of making her fresh start count with a growing network of friends, fans and followers. Go Kristen!

When you come across someone like Alison at AliOfftheMark, who tells it like it is -- or how she perceives it to be, you gotta appreciate the raw and uncensored material. Ali’s not one for sugar-coating things such as the awkwardness of teaching your toddlers how to refer to their “lady parts” and finding some normalcy and practicality in pay-by-the-hour hotels, she keeps it real.

Paula at Paula’s Place is one of the strongest women that I’ve had a chance to come across this year. Her life experiences could make for one heck of a memoir; Paula’s family should be proud of her compassion for people and the work she’s done as a health professional. I’m just glad to have the opportunity to check out what she contributes to the online space.

What movies have YOU watched that feature people receiving awards?

Production Updates, Announcements and the Monday Movie Meme

After a brief hiatus, The Monday Movie Meme will return in two weeks, on January 28th. I’ve also narrowed the potential editors for my short film down to two guys, so one will hopefully be selected by this weekend. I’m currently logging (hours of) footage -- a tedious and sometimes frustrating, but necessary, task so as to aid in a smooth post-production process.

I’ve been assigned to devour the Oscars for The Lamb sometime between now and February 24th. I have to cover the Best Original Score category, so that should be fun.

Also, remember when I participated in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge last spring? Well,  a few months ago, I accepted an invitation to become a host for this year’s A to Z Challenge! That means I am among the 12 co-hosts for the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge headed by the main host and founder, Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out. There are lots of administrative, organizing, developing, monitoring and general oversight duties that goes along with the hosting position but rather than bore you all with those details, I’m going to sum up the fun and most important part of this event...

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is an annual blogathon that takes place in April where bloggers here and abroad post a blog every day centered on a different letter of the alphabet. Since its inception, the A to Z Challenge has been growing by the number of participants each year. There were well over 1,700 participants in 2012 and this year is expected to be bigger than ever. Anyone (yes, including YOU) can participate. More details can be found at the A to Z Blog. The sign-up list opens on January 30th.

Here are the Co-Hosts for the 2013 A to Z Challenge:

Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out
Tina Downey at Life is Good
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro Zombie
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0
Matthew MacNish at The QQQE
Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought Too Small
Nicole Ayers at The Madlab Post
Livia Peterson at Leave It to Livia
L. Diane Wolf at Spunk on a Stick

Last but not least, I will be introducing you all to the cast (and maybe a few crew members as well) of my short film, in the coming weeks. I also realized that the King Dong series slipped my mind over the holidays, so we will be revamping that as well. If there are any actors who you would like to nominate for a spotlight, let me know and I will get on it as soon as I can.

As always, thanks for reading. You guys (and gals) rock!

Making the Case for ‘Skyfall’ #TheLAMB

Awards Season is upon us as mainstream and indie films vie for Hollywood’s most coveted honors from the Screen Actor’s Guild, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to name a few. This also means it’s time for the Annual Awards Nerdism blogathon, hosted by Stevee Taylor at Cinematic Paradox.

The subject is Making a Case for Movies that Probably Won’t Get Any Awards Recognition. So in the name of Taylor’s blogathon, here is a movie that probably won’t get major love in terms of award nominations in the Music categories but I think it should: Skyfall.

Best Original Score
I haven’t bought any movie soundtracks in a long time and composer Thomas Newman’s work on “Skyfall” will change that. There are moments during this latest James Bond film where the music had just as much as, if not more, of my attention than the action taking place on screen -- not in a poor sound mix or unwise choice by the music supervisor or sloppy timing with the editing kind of way but in a "oooh, I’m feeling the intensity of these tunes so much that I want to download them from iTunes" kind of way. The score and the imagery -- complete with great performances, pacing, editing (and everything else happening on screen) complemented each other in a way that is rarely noticeable in the average film.

The score in many films are either so ordinary that I forget that it even exists or these tracks have something going for them but not enough to justify playing in an audio-only listening session. In other words, they aren’t useful in any other medium outside of the movie that they represent. Newman offers audiences -- both movie fans and music aficionados alike -- a film score that can stand on its own with or without James Bond in the picture.

Yes, the “Skyfall” soundtrack may not be expected to serve as nothing more than a suspenseful supporting foundation for which M16’s dangerous missions can be carried out. Maybe that’s why this movie makes for a good “Best Original Score” nominee -- the underlying music carves out its own role as a character operating on equal playing field with 007 himself. That is why I think “Skyfall” is deserving of an award nomination in the music category.

Best Original Song
“Skyfall” by Adele may become my most favorite James Bond theme song, to date. Until now, I favored “Another Way to Die” by Jack White and Alicia Keys, on the “Quantum of Solace” soundtrack but Adele takes the cake -- for almost the same reasons that I’m making a case for Thomas Newman’s score. I say almost because although the song does fit within the movie well, it’s more enjoyable when played as a standard music track on iTunes or YouTube or Pandora, etc. than during the “Skyfall” movie’s opening title sequence. Adele’s voice lends to the music but both elements are beautifully in sync, setting a nice tone for the film’s plot.

It would be easy for anyone who is not familiar with, or aloof to, the James Bond character and “Skyfall” to assume that the Adele’s song is about a couple dedicated to each other, even in times of turmoil. After watching the movie, however, all I can think about is how much this song can be interpreted to reflect a bond between 007 and M -- their sentimental values as well as their unshakeable, yet unspoken, will to protect and support each other, as it relates to the roles and responsibilities that they have taken on at M16.

Have YOU seen “Skyfall” yet?

If YOU were a voting member in a film-industry related organization, in what category would YOU nominate “Skyfall” for an award?